Missing Kiter GERALDTON friday 4th 2019

WA

1811 posts

WA, 1811 posts

4 Jan 2019 9:31PM

A person has been reported missing off the Geraldton coast between Drumbonds Cove and Coronation Beach .He was using a PINK NORTH NEO KITE . A major search has been initiated if anyone knows he is safe he is to contact the police OOO.

SORRY i was the last on the water a coronations and was made aware of this when police pulled me up on the way home at 830 9pm his friend in the police car opon suggesting i post something on seabreeze it was agreed to do so ......... Hope it all ends well ........

NSW

2629 posts

NSW, 2629 posts

WA

3102 posts

WA, 3102 posts

5 Jan 2019 12:52AM

FR24 shows the search and rescue jet from Perth doing grids up and down the coast. I'm assuming significant search assets will be deployed at first light, but geez with a slight cross-offshore, 35+ knot wind smashing in up there the search area is growing exponentially by the hour.

WA

6706 posts

WA, 6706 posts

5 Jan 2019 6:01AM

Select to expand quote

king of the point said..A person has been reported missing off the Geraldton coast between Drumbonds Cove and Coronation Beach .He was using a PINK NORTH NEO KITE . A major search has been initiated if anyone knows he is safe he is to contact the police OOO.

SORRY i was the last on the water a coronations and was made aware of this when police pulled me up on the way home at 830 9pm his friend in the police car opon suggesting i post something on seabreeze it was agreed to do so ......... Hope it all ends well ........

WA

237 posts

WA, 237 posts

WA

1336 posts

WA, 1336 posts

5 Jan 2019 11:32AM

I was down the mouth of the Bowes with binoculars and 4wd at 0600 this morning looking for him. Bit disappointing I didn't get to pick Matt up, but am super happy someone else did!! I really was not expecting such a good outcome. Pretty amazing to see the amount of resources put into the search effort. Makes you proud.

WA

707 posts

WA, 707 posts

Dropped the kite in the surf and blew out a panel. Made it to shore okay ( lots of reef north of coro).

Walked north along beach for about 4km, but was already past coro so almost made Bowes / Horrocks.

Went inland to try to find a road.....

Hunkered down for the night in his kite. Must have been to far inland for the plane that was using IR to search.

Walked back to beach this morning and got a jetski ride to the vmr boat for a run back to Gero. Happy Days.

Saw the Geraldton Volunteer Marine Rescue team who picked him up this morning and this version of the story above is pretty close to what they told me. Apparently, he had a portable EPIRB device that he'd been carrying with him but lost it in the surf on Thursday. He was picked up approximately 10 NM north or Corros, just south of Bowes River. It's a pretty desolate, uninhabited area, and the closest road is about 14km from the beach. The rescue plane was doing some serious searching up until well after midnight. I was unaware of the situation last night but heard a jet flying at low altitude just before 1am and had a look a FlightRadar to see what what going on. Here're the tracks they'd been flying up til about midnight and a screen grab of this morning's flights as well just before they flew back to Perth.

Kudos to all the rescue personnel who gave their time, many of whom stayed up the entire night working on the search and were still on duty at 2pm this afternoon. WA Police kindly brought in sandwiches and coffee and family of Geraldton Volunteer Marine Rescue staff delivered cake and coffee.

Awesome community we have here in this part of the world, along with the superb support and world-class tech from our friends in Perth.